Supersonic Brahmos to be flight tested
Balasore, Orissa: Brahmos cruise missile is likely to be flight tested from the Integrated Test Range at Chandipur off Orissa coast tomorrow.
"Range co-ordination for the trial of Brahmos missile proposed to be conducted is near complete," an official of Defence Research Development Organisation (DRDO) said.
Brahmos, developed jointly with Russia, is a supersonic cruise missile and capable of being launched from multiple platforms like submarine, ship, aircraft and land based Mobile Autonomous Launchers (MAL).
One regiment of the 290-km range BrahMos-I variant, which consists of 67 missiles, five mobile autonomous launchers on 12x12 Tatra vehicles and two mobile command posts, among other equipment, is already operational in the Indian Army.
Similarly, Indian navy has begun inducting the first version of Brahmos missile system in all its frontline warships from 2005.
The Army, on its part, is in the process of inducting two more regiments of the Brahmos Block-II land-attack cruise missiles (LACM), which have been designed as `precision strike weapons' capable of hitting small targets in cluttered urban environments.
The Brahmos missile is a two-stage vehicle that has a solid propellant booster and a liquid propellant ram-jet system. The missile can fly at 2.8 times the speed of sound.
It can carry conventional warheads up to 300 kg for a range of 290 km. The missile can effectively engage ground targets from an altitude as low as 10 meters.
The first flight test of the Brahmos missile was conducted on June 12, 2001 at the Integrated Test Range at Chandipur in Orissa coast and the last trial, 'at a supersonic speed in a steep-dive mode' was successfully carried out on September 5, 2010 from the same range.
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